Bellator's 'Vote for the Fight' under way with Daley, Saunders, Lima, War Machine

Bellator’s interactive feature allowing fans to pick the first fight on the promotion’s Spike TV debut is under way.

The promotion this past week announced “Vote for the Fight” during the MTV2 broadcast of Bellator 79.

Bellator events currently air Fridays on MTV2 through the remainder of Season 7, but will move to Spike TV starting in January 2013.

“Vote for the Fight” is a “web series” that premiered Thursday at Spike.com. It follows four of the promotion’s top welterweights, and fans then can vote for the fight they want to see in the Season 8 premiere’s opening fight in January. Paul Daley, Ben Saunders, Douglas Lima and Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver are the four fighters profiled in the web series and on the ballot.

Spike.com will premiere a new episode of the web series each Thursday, including behind-the-scenes profiles of the fighters’ training and personal lives.

Daley (30-12-2), a UFC and Strikeforce veteran, won his Bellator debut in July in dominant fashion, stopping Rudy Bears with a first-round knockout. The Brit was thought to be fighting again this fall, but instead will be on hold until Season 8 begins.

Saunders (14-5-2 MMA, 5-2 BFC) came up short against Lima in the Season 5 welterweight tournament finals, then lost to Bryan Baker in the Season 6 semifinals. He stopped Brian Warren in just 22 seconds in July, though, and hopes to finally get an elusive tournament crown.

Lima (22-5 MMA, 4-1 BFC) is coming off a dominant Friday night win over Jacob Ortiz at Bellator 79, which got him back in the win column after a welterweight title loss to champ Ben Askren this past April. Now he’ll have to fight his way back through another tournament if he wants another shot at the belt.

War Machine (12-4 MMA, 0-0 BFC) earlier this week was released from prison early after starting a yearlong sentence in February. The fighter has a storied background of legal troubles and arrests, as well as a brief career in pornography. But all 12 of his wins are by stoppage, and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has said he remains hopeful that the fighter has turned the corner on his life outside the cage.

Check out the first segments of Bellator’s “Vote for the Fight” web series above and below.

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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